Howard Herron Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
Howard Herron Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield Howard Herron Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
Howard Herron 3 5 Q: Did you see any submarines? A: Oh, yes I saw lots of submarines. We dropped depth charges but we didn't know whether we got on, if we dropped depth charges, if we saw the big oil slick, we knew we got them. If we didn't see an oil slick, well, we weren't sure if we had them, I never was, I was scared. We got through all right. Q: Were you ever attacked? A: Oh yes. We had a man that always stayed in the crow's nest way up high on a ship and he would have glasses. If he would see a periscope anywhere--once in a while some guys would decide that they would just want to see them shoot. They were all young fellows, full of hell, some of them were more than full of hell. . . . I was glad when it was all over. Q: How long were you out at a time? A: The first time we went clear across, carried the convoy across and headquartered in France and we would come back with oil and water and food. Then come back with another convoy about halfway and they would meet a convoy coming from the States and we would take over the care for them and they would take over the care of us so we just stayed in France back and forth, we always got halfway across. That began to get monotonous so. . . . Q: That's a lot of water, isn't it? A: A lot of water between here and France. Q: What time of year was this? A: Mostly the wintertime. Q: The winter? A: Fall and winter. We were halfway across the ocean coming back and we got word that we were missed and we were very happy. So we got into Boston then, we'd change ships, I can't tell you all the names of them. We'd take these destroyers and run them awful hard and they had to be put in the dry dock about three or Sour months to get the particles scraped off of the bottom, get them general overhauled for safety and. . . . Q: How long were you in the navy altogether? A: Twenty-two months and twenty-two days. I have my discharge up here in my lockbox. Q: What kind of pay did a seaman get in those days? A: Oh, about a dollar a day. I think it was $36 a month.
Howard Herron 36 Q: What was your food like? A: Good food, we had good food. Q: When you stopped at France, did you have time to see any of the country? A: Well, yes, we would go to shore at night and take a chocolate bar or a cake of soap and trade that for food and anything else in France because they didn't have any soap or chocolate candy or nothing like that. If you wanted a date with a gal all you had to do was to have a chocolate bar. I was sent out with the receiving ship, what they called a receiving ship, nothing but a camp. So I got a job, a fellow named McPherson and I was in the Boston navy yard. They sent us what they called subsistance, where they gave us $2.50 a day to live on the outside, and I got a job working at a restaurant just outside of the navy yard. This fellow that owned that, he and Vic McPherson, they were Commissary Stewarts in the navy and they wanted me to stay there and go to work at the bar for the restaurant. They owned five restaurants, so I stayed there until I got homesick. Q: How long were you there? A: I stayed there about three months, and I told them I had to get home and settle in the States. Q: Did you make lots of friends in the navy? A: Oh, yes, but I've forgotten all of them now. They all scattered. Q: Did you keep in contact with any of them afterwards? A: Some of them every once in a while. They soon died out. They had their home lives the same as I did. But anyway I went back to this when I got out of the navy, I left McPherson and them. I quit and I come back home here and I went to Divernon. I worked a while and then I quit the mine and then I went to get a job at Mr. Latham's selling cars. I told you about before. Q: Can I ask you a few more things about the coal mine? I've never been in one and it is hard for me to imagine how back in those days they had equipment to dig that deep, what did they use and how did they go about that? A: Well, they didn't dig, they would drill a hold, they'd drill in there and then they'd shoot a little shot here. Then they would put a deeper shot in here, a hold about that big around and fill that full of powder and then would tamp that with clay and wet paper or whatever and there would be a shotfire come around at night. All the men in the daythe would be quitting and going home and there would be nobody in the mine but a couple of shotfires. They would come around in the afternoon and count your shots and they would go around and light these shots on the run. They would light the shots and keep on running and that would all be blown out and that would blow that coal out.
- Page 1: University of Illinois at Springfie
- Page 5 and 6: Table of Contents (cont.) Auburn Bu
- Page 7 and 8: Howard Berron 2 A: I wouldn't know
- Page 9 and 10: Howard Hexron 4 A: Eighteen hundred
- Page 11 and 12: Howard Herron 6 b- it's a fact beca
- Page 13 and 14: Howard Herron 8 started in and I ha
- Page 15 and 16: Howard Herron 10 Q: When you were a
- Page 17 and 18: Howard Herron 12 kid in school had
- Page 19 and 20: Howard Herron 14 always been gratef
- Page 21 and 22: Howard Herron 16 A: Oh, pumpkin pie
- Page 23 and 24: Howard Berron 18 father bought this
- Page 25 and 26: Howard Herron 20 eleven inches in c
- Page 27 and 28: Howard Herron 2 2 Q: A rod or a gui
- Page 29 and 30: Howard Herron and he had these pink
- Page 31 and 32: Howard Herron 2 6 A: Oh, about ten,
- Page 33 and 34: Howard Herron 2 8 Q: Where was the
- Page 35 and 36: Howard Herron Q: Like the bank does
- Page 37 and 38: Howard Berron 32 A: Open and shut t
- Page 39: Howard Berron 3 4 about 8:00 in the
- Page 43 and 44: Howard Herron 38 Q: Straight in? A:
- Page 45 and 46: 1 Howard Herron 40 Q: Did you read
- Page 47 and 48: Howard Herron 4 2 of it and put abo
- Page 49 and 50: Howard Herron 44 It was below zero
- Page 51 and 52: Howard Herron 4 6 A: When I got hom
- Page 53 and 54: Howard Herron 4 8 Q: Do you want to
- Page 55 and 56: Howard Herron 5 0 A: That was at Lo
- Page 57 and 58: Howard Herron 5 2 building and we b
- Page 59 and 60: Howard Herron 5 4 A: Yes, mostly, t
- Page 61 and 62: Howard Herron 5 6 Q: Can I ask you
- Page 63 and 64: Howard Herron 58 that wants because
- Page 65 and 66: Howard Herroa 60 Q: Do you remember
- Page 67 and 68: Howard Herron 6 2 Q: What are some
- Page 69 and 70: Howard Berron 64 Q: Did they ever h
- Page 71 and 72: Howard Herron 66 Q: How old was she
- Page 73 and 74: Howard Herron 6 8 Q: So times were
- Page 75 and 76: Howard Herron 7 0 A: Used to but th
- Page 77 and 78: Howard Herron 72 A: Well, not much.
- Page 79 and 80: Howard Herron 74 A: Yes, but you se
- Page 81 and 82: Howard Herron 7 6 and everything, a
- Page 83 and 84: Howard Berron 7 8 the papers. I sai
- Page 85 and 86: Howard Herron 80 He was quite a pok
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<strong>Howard</strong> <strong>Herron</strong> 3 5<br />
Q: Did you see any submarines?<br />
A: Oh, yes I saw lots <strong>of</strong> submarines. We dropped depth charges but we<br />
didn't know whether we got on, if we dropped depth charges, if we saw the<br />
big oil slick, we knew we got them. If we didn't see an oil slick, well,<br />
we weren't sure if we had them, I never was, I was scared. We got<br />
through all right.<br />
Q: Were you ever attacked?<br />
A: Oh yes. We had a man that always stayed in the crow's nest way up<br />
high on a ship and he would have glasses. If he would see a periscope<br />
anywhere--once in a while some guys would decide that they would just<br />
want to see them shoot. They were all young fellows, full <strong>of</strong> hell, some<br />
<strong>of</strong> them were more than full <strong>of</strong> hell. . . . I was glad when it was all<br />
over.<br />
Q: How long were you out at a time?<br />
A: The first time we went clear across, carried the convoy across and<br />
headquartered in France and we would come back with oil and water and<br />
food. Then come back with another convoy about halfway and they would<br />
meet a convoy coming from the States and we would take over the care for<br />
them and they would take over the care <strong>of</strong> us so we just stayed in France<br />
back and forth, we always got halfway across. That began to get<br />
monotonous so. . . .<br />
Q: That's a lot <strong>of</strong> water, isn't it?<br />
A: A lot <strong>of</strong> water between here and France.<br />
Q: What time <strong>of</strong> year was this?<br />
A: Mostly the wintertime.<br />
Q: The winter?<br />
A: Fall and winter. We were halfway across the ocean coming back and we<br />
got word that we were missed and we were very happy. So we got into<br />
Boston then, we'd change ships, I can't tell you all the names <strong>of</strong> them.<br />
We'd take these destroyers and run them awful hard and they had to be put<br />
in the dry dock about three or Sour months to get the particles scraped<br />
<strong>of</strong>f <strong>of</strong> the bottom, get them general overhauled for safety and. . . .<br />
Q: How long were you in the navy altogether?<br />
A: Twenty-two months and twenty-two days. I have my discharge up here<br />
in my lockbox.<br />
Q: What kind <strong>of</strong> pay did a seaman get in those days?<br />
A: Oh, about a dollar a day. I think it was $36 a month.
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